A Late Time Story
by Dark Sadistic Angel
Summary: Heero and Duo are partners, and work for the Preventers. However, due to the history between them, they are rather uneasy with each other. Heero no longer talks to Duo. Duo no longer talks to Heero. Then one night...


_Dear Readers,_

_I have returned back to for postings of stories with purely light content. However, the contents of most of my stories are apparently has "explicit" or "adult content" too high for , therefore the majority of my works will not be posted here. Please visit DSA SITE (www . geocities . com / dsasite ) to access the more mature, darker stories. (And yes, after months of inactivity, I am finally doing something about my site.)_

**A Late Time Story (1/1)**  
_Warnings: 1x2. Some Angst, Lime Hints._

A sigh broke the silence. He was done. Heero dropped one stack of papers on top of the large pile he had on his desk, and pushed himself away from the desk. Standing, he reached back without much thought to grab his jacket from the back of his chair and shrugged the denim on. He had his arm in the sleeve when Duo came in the main door. With the opening of the door, came noise. Naturally, Duo wasn't alone. Duo never was. A whole row of new recruits was lined up outside the opened door, and Duo was chattering rapidly away to the fresh faced youths as if they were in high school and not in the main Preventer Earth headquarters. They all filed in at a decibel breaking level of laughter and chatter. Duo continued to speak back at them, his head never turning to look at Heero as he led the group over to his own desk. There was a large space that separated out Duo's area and his own, and the seventeen new members easily fitted in the area, their numbers making barriers between Duo and himself.  
Heero waited until the last of the recruits filed in before he slipped out the main door. Encountering Wufei in the hallway, he nodded towards the Asian man in greeting, before moving on.  
After all, it was only Duo that he deliberately ignored. And the other ignored him in turn.

The recruits were gone by time he got back. That was to be expected. In general, most Preventers worked only during the day unless they were on a case. Heero knew himself to be an oddity.  
He stayed in the headquarters even when not on a case, and made regular use of a spare dormitory room in the intergovernmental building. It wasn't a private one- the room was equipped only with a shower and two bunk beds, held for general usage but unofficially, it was acknowledged as Heero's room, and at times,  
Trowa's too, when the other agent actually surfaced from undercover cases. But Heero didn't keep any private items in the room. Instead, he kept two changes of clothing in the cabinet next to his desk, along with generic items for hygiene purposes in the bottom drawer. After utilizing the basement gym, Heero was sweaty and planned to take a shower before sleeping.  
What he didn't expect was to find Duo in their office.  
He paused fractionally when he noticed Duo's presence before shrugging and moving over to the cabinet. There was a faint stench of alcohol in the air, and other smells which indicated the slumped over long hair young man in the corner hadn't been doing overtime before falling asleep at his desk.  
As he turned his back, he heard a deep thud and then a muffled expletive.  
'Ow, damn... oh shit, what time is it?'  
'Two eighteen,' Heero replied without turning back.  
'Damn- I got to go and- wait, do you mean in the morning?'  
'Yes.'  
'What am I doing here?'  
'I don't know.'  
Silence fell as he expected. Duo must have realized who he was talking to. That meant that Duo was sober and awake now.  
'Thanks,' Duo muttered. There were sounds of shuffling. Duo was picking himself off the ground.  
'Man, I don't get how you can live here.'  
Heero revised his conclusions. Duo was awake but must be still drunk. Outside of work, they just did not talk. Ever.  
Not since the end of the wars.  
That had been ten years ago. They were no longer teenage boys,  
even if they still looked young enough to be asked for ID.  
Heero shrugged it off and opened up the steel grey cabinet to get out a shirt and pair of jeans. As he reached inside, Heero was nearly surprised out of his skin to find two hands wrapping themselves around him.  
Only the throaty chuckle, 'Shinigami still lives,' in his ear stayed his automatic response to react to the entrapment.  
What the hell?  
He turned, his face forming into a scowl as he made to confront Duo.  
Warm, violet eyes sparkled up at him with a playful, mischievous expression he hadn't faced for years... and didn't know he missed until it took his breath away like an invisible punch to his gut. But it was the next thing that Duo did that caused the most pain. Duo kissed him. The pain was worse than a knife slipped in between the protective braces of his ribs, into his heart. And like a man whom death had in its grasp, Heero had no control over his body as he wobbled forward and clutched at Duo's shoulders in weakness, before he gave way and kissed Duo back.  
The decade of distance ceased to exist in memory.  
Accompanied by the taste of alcohol on his tongue and Duo, Heero threw out loneliness for the night.

Underneath his uniform trousers, the carpet burn on his legs irked him, but he made not show of the fact as he paced over to the window to glace down at the miniature cars that traveled on the highways before. From over the far corner of the room, tucked in protectively behind his desk with messy stacks of paperwork Heero knew Duo wouldn't normally bother looking at, hid a long hair agent in desperate pursuit of the relaxing state of denial.  
A patch of carpet, nearby Heero's own desk, was neatly newly covered by a circle of green leafy pot plants borrowed from the hallway. Possible on a permanent basis. There was a stain hidden underneath that was not to see the light of day.  
Heero held his cup of coffee up to his lips and blew across the hot liquid surface. He longed to sip at the liquid, to awaken himself from the nightmarish situation, but his hands were shaking too much. That was the reason why he kept his ramrod straight back to Duo. He was hiding under a non-existent facade of coolness.  
'Heero...'  
Heero was startled. He wouldn't have thought Duo would approach it first. He'd had been planning to do it himself, after... he had steadied his nerves.  
'What is it?'  
'I thought you said that you wouldn't wait for me?'  
'Duo, you're not making sense.'  
'You said that you wouldn't wait for me. Before.'  
'What are you talking about?'  
'You know what I'm talking about!'  
'Heero...'  
He sighed.  
'Yes, I did say that.'  
'Then...?'  
'Forget about last night!' Heero growled out. 'You were drunk. I wasn't. It was a mistake I shouldn't have made, and I'm sorry.'  
'Don't say that!'  
'Then what do you want me to say?!' Heero whirled around violently. Hot coffee splattered on his shirt as he did and he swore. With angry motions, Heero stalked over to his desk and slammed his coffee cup down. Neither the brown liquid or the scalding was going to wake him up from the confrontation, so Heero decided to just allow his emotions to reign for once. He had nothing to lose, after all. His pride had been lost the moment he had given into Duo's drunken kiss. But all his rage suddenly slammed into the thick wall of guilt and regret at his shouted words as Heero saw Duo's ashen face.  
Duo was still behind his desk, and held a pile of case files before him as a protective barrier, his hands white knuckled on the bound folders. It was Duo's vulnerable eyes that snagged him. They were wide, timid and full of conflict.  
'What do you want me to say?' Heero repeated. This time, he said it more quietly. 'What is it you want me to do?'  
A sigh came out from Duo and his face screwed up in misery.  
'I'm sorry, Heero. I don't know. I just... can't... I don't think I can. Look, I'm going to need time or something to handle this, but... you shouldn't wait for me.'  
Duo looked away.  
'Duo...'  
Duo kept on staring down.  
'Duo! Look at me!' Heero shouted.  
Duo's head jerked up and his violet cobalt blue eyes widened.  
'Listen to me...' Heero lent back on his desk and crossed his arms as he glared across the room at Duo. 'When I said I wouldn't wait for you... I lied. I couldn't stop myself. I kept on waiting, and waiting... until I hated you Duo,' he stated bluntly. 'I don't think I'll ever stop waiting for you. Last night was a mistake. Rest assured I'll be back to hating you again.' Heero keep his words flat and devoid of the turmoil he felt as he made his request. 'Just give me time.'  
With that he got off his desk and moved over to the cabinet. He opened it and reached in for the remaining clean shirt.  
When two hands wrapped around him, he automatically grabbed his attackers wrists and twisted around, but his sudden motion froze as he looked down at Duo.  
'What the hell do you want, Duo?'  
Duo's throat then mouth worked silently. Then he croaked nervously.  
'Sorry... I want time... but I can't give you time. Can't we cut a different deal?'  
Heero felt Duo's right hand twisted and escape from his grip to grasp at the front of his uniform shirt. 'Please?' he begged.  
Heero looked down at Duo's desperate face.  
'Damnit...' he swore. 'Look, Duo, I'm not going to give you anymore time,' he said softly. 'But we can take it slowly...'  
Shakily fingers crept up his chest and paused on his shoulders.  
As they stilled, Heero took Duo's right hand into his own and held Duo's hand against his cheek. He looked into Duo's eyes,  
but did not make to kiss Duo despite the closeness of their faces. Despite the uncomfortable and awkward positions they were both in against the cold metal cabinet, they did not move from there for the longest time.

Fin.

**_DSA_**


End file.
